PACO PEREZ

The Story

The Da Vinci of Mexican cuisine, Paco Perez, is an industrial engineer who has designed a special oven for making Texcoco-style lamb barbacoa, a master of pit cooking and a savvy restaurateur. He learned the craft of lamb barbacoa back in Tijuana (1997) and later opened the first US location of Aqui es Texcoco in Chula Vista (2008), and later in Commerce, CA (2013). On his many trips in Mexico City, Perez decided to bring Mexico City-style al pastor tacos to a restaurant in the US, a style of taco that is mostly found at street food stands in Mexico City. His traditional taqueria concept features professional taqueros roasting marinated pork on a vertical spit, sliced onto a warm corn tortilla in a family-style eatery. Always an innovator in traditional Mexican cuisine, Perez is a true Renaissance man.